Tuesday, October 23, 2007

10 Anti-Phishing Firefox Extensions

 

 

RMStringer

#################

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,

anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Author Unknown

 

 

 



 

For most Internet users, defending against phishing attacks is a top priority. Typically, phishing attacks involve phony emails and fraudulent web sites that try to lure users into disclosing user names, passwords and other personal information, such as credit card numbers and social security numbers.

The damage caused by phishing attacks ranges from loss of access to your web account to identity theft. Once the personal information is obtained, the phishers may use one’s details to steal money, create fake accounts etc.

One popular way to combat phishing attacks is to maintain a list of known phishing sites and to check web sites against the list. This hack highlights 10 anti-phishing Firefox extensions that can be used to mitigate the risk of being a victim of a phishing attack.

PhishTank SiteChecker - SiteChecker blocks phishing web sites based on data from the PhishTack community. When you visit a web site known to PhishTank as a phishing web site, SiteChecker will display a block page instead of the phishing web page. Download PhishTank SiteChecker.

Google Safe Browsing - Google Safe Browsing alerts you if a web page that you visit appears to be asking for your personal or financial information under false pretences (phishing web sites). By combining advanced algorithms with reports about misleading pages from a number of sources, Google Safe Browsing is often able to automatically warn you when you encounter a page that’s trying to trick you into disclosing personal information. Download Google Safe Browsing.

WOT -WOT helps you steer clear of online fraud and phishing web sites, by allowing you to see web sites reputations on your browser. By knowing the reputation of a web site, it becomes easier to avoid accessing phishing web sites. The reputations are taken from testimonies contributed by the WOT community. Download WOT.

Verisign EV Green Bar - This extension adds extended validation certificate support to your browser. When you access a secure web site, the address bar turns green and displays certificate owner and certification authority. This extension is extremely useful to determine whether a web site is phony. Download Verisign EV Green Bar.

iTrustPage - iTrustPage prevents Internet users from filling out untrustworthy web forms. When visiting a web site that has a web form, iTrustPage computes the TrustScore for the form page. When the score is high, iTrustPage deems the web page as trustworthy; otherwise it is untrustworthy. Download iTrustPage.

Finjan SecureBrowsing - Finjan SecureBrowsing checks links in search results and websites and warns you of potentially malicious links. It performs real-time code analysis of the current content on each web page. It detects potentially malicious code and undesirable behavior. Each link is marked as safe (green) or potentially dangerous (red). Download Finjan SecureBrowsing.

FirePhish - FirePhish warns you whenever you surf to a site which is known as a phishing site or has suspicious characteristics. Download FirePhish.

CallingID Link Advisor - CallingID Link Advisor verifies that links you see are safe before you follow them. When the mouse is placed over any link, a risk assessment and the full details of the site owner are displayed, helping you decide whether the site is trustworthy. CallingID Link Advisor also warns you of links to sites that are known as phishing sites. Download CallingID Link Advisor.

SpoofStick - SpoofStick makes it easier to spot a spoofed website by prominently displaying only the most relevant domain information. Download SpoofStick.

TrustBar - TrustBar allows users to assign a favorite name or logo for each web site. This makes it easy to detect fake, cloned sites, from phishing, spoofing, pharming and other attacks. Download TrustBar.



Eastern Seaboard Water Situation....

This is a Total USA Map showing drought ridden regions.










The Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Ohio and lower Missouri valleys: In general, another week of warm, dry weather dominated this part of the country. Isolated storms brought relief to a relative few areas, and none were enough to improve on the situation. Many locations continue to build up their year-to-date deficits in what is turning out to be one of the driest years on record in many locales. As a result, only expansion of drought is reflected on this week’s map, with D1-D4 expanding to the west, north and east. The areas of most notable expansion include Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina, with more subtle deterioration noted in Tennessee and Virginia. In North Carolina, the governor has issued a statewide ban on burning and has asked citizens there to stop non-essential water use as several communities have only a few months of water supply remaining. This is also the case in some locales in northern Georgia, where the governor has also pleaded with citizens to voluntarily find other ways to conserve water besides the usual outdoor watering restrictions in place.
This is all data maps pertaining to the drought in Virginia.





From Florida to Virginia, Alabama to Georgia. The situation is getting desperate for the water needed to be provided for the cities to function, farmers to raise crops and people to be able to drink water. The experts are saying that we will have to get a hurricane to break the cycle. They are hoping that the weather patterns will change this month and that the blocking “high” of the coast will break up and loosed its hold on this side of the USA.
In the Richmond Metroplex we have only had 1.11'' of rain in the last 58 days.

Here are a list of restrictions that we in the Virginia area are under:

Water restrictions, both mandatory and voluntary, are a little different from one locality to the next. Penalties also vary. Check with your city or county to be sure. But generally, here are the restrictions:

Decorative or landscape fountains — Water use is prohibited.

Paved areas — Washing is prohibited except for immediate health and safety requirements.

Swimming pools — Limit to filling and replenishing to maintain health and safety. All other uses are prohibited.

Vehicle washing — Noncommercial washing is limited to one day per week using only hoses with automatic shut-off nozzles. Commercial vehicle-washing businesses are permitted to operate under normal conditions.

Established landscaping and gardens — Watering is limited to three days per week by address. Addresses ending with an odd number may water only on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Addresses ending with an even number and locations with no street number may water only on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Watering is prohibited on Mondays.

Watering with buckets of up to five gallons per day is permitted any time.

Vegetable gardens — Limit watering to any two days per week between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. Watering by bucket is unlimited.

New landscaping — All watering is permitted for the first 10 days after planting. Thereafter, the restriction for established landscaping and gardens shall apply.

Over seeding an existing lawn does not qualify as new landscaping.

Golf courses — Watering is restricted to Tuesday through Sunday between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. Greens are exempted from this restriction.Businesses — Limit to essential use only

Restaurants — No restrictions.




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Thought for today...

You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it. -Charles Buxton:1823-1871

Monday, October 22, 2007

Sun behind...

@8.00am

Morning clouds...

@7.56am

This weekend...

We did a lot of biking. On Saturday we got in close to 12 miles. On Sunday we had 5 bikers in our group and we rode 7 miles. It was very nice weather all weekend! We have been lucky with not being rained out for a while. We still need a lot of rain and we are suposed to get some this week. More later.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Sun in Trees...


Sun in Trees..., originally uploaded by RMStringer.

I took this on our morning ride today. We got in 7 miles on the Blue Trial.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Stop the 21st Century Gatekeepers

Dear Friend,

Verizon recently blocked text messages with political content -- raising very serious concerns about free speech over new communication technologies. Verizon claimed to have fixed this mistake, but they and other large phone companies still reserve the right to censor certain cell phone communications and cut off Internet users for "any reason or no reason."

Millions of Americans use cell phones and the Internet to connect to one another. The fundamental democratic principle of free speech is too precious to be left to the whims of the corporate gatekeepers that control these networks. Congress must take immediate action to protect free speech on our cell phones, over the Internet -- everywhere!

I strongly urge you to call for Congressional oversight hearings on cell phone censorship.

I thought you might be interested in the campaign to save
Internet freedom and protect free speech everywhere at
www.savetheinternet.com .

Unless we speak out to our members of Congress they could move
to allow large telephone and cable companies to control what you
do, where you go and what you watch online. To learn more,
visit: www.savetheinternet.com


Visit the URL below to check out what's at stake and send a loud
message directly to the Congress:
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/cell_freedom?rk=s1xhEsM1fH2GW

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Big Ass Garden Spider!

Sun Anyone?

I took this on the way home yesterday morning. You can see the sun behind the clouds. It never realy made it out. It was shot off of I95 south around 8.00am.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Call on Congress to Hold Hearings on Media Ownership

Dear Friend,

The FCC has been moving forward with a secret timeline to vote
on sweeping changes to media ownership rules. This is just the
most recent in a long series of outrageous moves the FCC has
made to avoid public scrutiny.

If you go to the URL below you can check out what is at stake
and send your own message directly to your elected officials.
Take action on this campaign at:

http://action.freepress.net/campaign/fcc_oversight?rk=97xhEsM1ufSdW

What's at Stake
Big isn't always bad – unless you're talking about the companies that dominate our country's media.

A handful of companies control most of what we see, hear and read every day. They own our TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, cable channels, movie studios, music labels – even our favorite Internet sites.

Unchecked consolidation means that Big Media are getting even bigger, giving these firms more control over our news and information. Bottom line? Big Media are bad news – for all of us.

What's So Bad about Big Media?


Big Media fail local communities.

Big Media companies get a sweet deal from the government. They get to use the public airwaves – for free – to make billions in profits. In exchange for this government handout, broadcasters are supposed to serve the public by offering quality programs that meet the needs of local communities. Instead, Big Media companies gut local newsrooms and ignore local issues.


Big Media ignore diversity.

Big Media have limited ownership opportunities for women and people of color, pushing them off the public airwaves and stifling vital voices. Coverage of issues that matter to people of color, women, the middle and working class, and rural communities has disappeared. The result? Media that fail to represent our nation's diversity.


Big Media are bad for democracy.

Democracy can't exist without an informed public. We rely on unbiased news from independent sources to stay informed and to hold our government accountable. But media consolidation means fewer sources of news, opinion and information. Instead of hard-hitting critical journalism, Big Media give us a junk diet of celebrity gossip and sensationalism.


Going from Bad to Worse

The Federal Communications Commission is considering sweeping changes to media ownership rules that would allow media conglomerates to swallow up more local radio and television stations and newspapers. A single company could own the major daily newspaper, and as many as eight radio stations and three TV stations in a single city. That's too much media power in too few hands.


Don't Like It? Do Something.

If we want better media, we need better media policies. It's time to promote local ownership, amplify minority voices, support quality journalism, and bring local artists, voices and viewpoints to the airwaves. The only way to stop Big Media is by getting organized in our communities and demanding our leaders in Washington start listening to the public instead of the industry lobbyists. Use this Web site to learn more about the issues and find out how you can get involved.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Cooling tower.

Steam!

Another Tiger Army Pic


1013070030, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Here is another pic of the band...

Monday, October 15, 2007

Me

It is 12.40am I am very tired tonight. I slept from 9.30a to 4.45p but I guess it was not enough. I must have pushed it to hard last weekend and it has all caught up with me tonight. It is going to be a long shift!

195 north

this is so totally a shameless promotion...

Steve Niles author of the graphic novel 30 Days of Night, pin-up artist Susan Heidi and Kaitlin Olson who stars as Sweet Dee on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia from FX. Plus Dwight & Mia Albatross, Ms. Monster, pin-up model Kim Falcon, Irving Rat from the graphic novel Edgar Allan Poo by Dwight L. MacPherson and Thomas Boatwright, Zombie Custer, Billy Purgatory, a special Christmas message from Ihaveyourshit, words of wisdom and advice from the Blinky Elite and much, much more.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket



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Sunday, October 14, 2007

Bike Ride Today…

Mark and I went to Pocahontas Park and did the Lake View 1&2 trails. We parked at the Quala Lot. If you park there, it will add 2+ miles to the ride as Lake View Trails are on the other side of the park. We had a good ride and it totaled 12.01 miles today. On Friday, we did the Blue and Double Red Trail with a mileage of 7.01. So for the weekend I got in 19 miles! We are supposed to go back to Pocahontas next weekend and have a friend join us for the ride…

Laters…

Dc Metro Pics...

We started out trip to go to the Black Cat Club in West Falls Church and we took the Dc Metro to get to our end destination at U Street. We saw Tiger Army, Street Dogs and The Static Age.

The concert was very good and Street Dogs took the show. They had so much energy and stage presence. It was just incredible. The lead singer Mike McColgan was the original Dropkick Murphy's from Boston Massachusetts and we got to go and talk to him after the show. He was really down to earth and fun to chat with. The Street Dogs' drummer Joe Sirois was from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. It was a really fun show and I am glad that i was able to go to it.















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L'Enfant Plaza





























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U Street/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo






























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Saturday, October 13, 2007

Last Night DC concert.

I will give a full review tomorrow before I go to work about the show we saw and have a few neat pics of the DC Metro system.

 

RMStringer

******************

"Seduction is thus a central, indeed in certain respects, the central idea, in political life.

It signifies a course of action deliberately designed by one or more interested

agents to undermine and replace some established loyalty."

Kenneth Minogue (November issue of The New Criterion)

 

Tiger Army

DC The Black Cat club

Friday, October 12, 2007

Street dogs from Boston

Kick Ass!

Mark on metro

Falls Church Metro station.

Way TO GO Nancy Pelosi!!!

It must be a great day to be Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a Demoncrat. The could not get the sufficient amount of votes and support to bring the boys home from Iraq, so what a better way to do it then to alienate one of the biggest partners in the war! The Turkish people are all mad as hell at the USA and protesting to their government.

WAY TO GO YOU IGNORANT WOMAN!!

Who really gives a big rats ass about a war that took place nearly 100 years ago in a country that was none of our concern. I mean genocide was thought to be bad for many years before that, Hitler tried to do it and was stopped. It was generaly recogonized that it was bad after him, but Israel did it many thousands of years before this little war took place in Turkey and we do not condemn them.

Armenian Genocide
"The Armenian Genocide (Armenian: Հայոց Ցեղասպանութիւն ("Hayoc' c'ejaspanut'iwn"), Turkish: Ermeni Soykırımı) — also known as the Armenian Holocaust, Great Calamity (Մեծ Եղեռն "Mec Ejer'n" ) or the Armenian Massacre — was the forcible deportation and massacreof hundreds of thousands to over 1.5 million Armenians during the government of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917 in the Ottoman Empire.

It is widely acknowledged to have been one of the first modern, systematic genocides, as many Western sources point to the sheer scale of the death toll as evidence for a systematic, organized plan to eliminate the Armenians. The event is also said to be the second-most studied case of genocide. To date twenty-two countries have officially recognized it as genocide. The government of the Republic of Turkey rejects the characterization of the events as genocide."

Their own government does not even recognize that this happened and all she did by trying to get the resolution passed was piss them off. They were a secret allies of Israel and they let nearly 75% of the supplies go through their country to the war in Iraq. I guess that she and the democrats got what they were looking for. Now they can say "Our troops do not have sufficient supplies to continue the war and then really need to be brought home. All she did was try to weaken a countries resolve and hurt a nation. This was a most childish show of power and i for one think that she should step down as speaker. This has been going on for the whole term of Bush and just now when they are no getting their way try to push it through congress? She need a good swift kick in the ass and put out of office. What a dumb bitch for doing this now...

I do not advocate the actions of Turkey, but i do not care. IT happened many years ago and most of the people that might have been in it are dead. Let bygones be bygones shall we? We need their support and pleasure do not let one stupid woman ruin the friendship of the Turkish peoples.


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Thursday, October 11, 2007

De De Do, Wubba Wubba Wubba...

The doldrums of Fall…

 

I am very tired today as my sleep was interrupted several times today. Not much going on here in my life. It is a stable routine here. I go to work get off go to bed around 9.30am and sleep till about 4.30pm.  In one respect I am home more with not having to start work till midnight. When the wife gets in from work around 6pm-ish, we go to the gym or at least try to every other day.  Tomorrow I am going to DC to a concert with Mark and perhaps on Sunday, we will ride at Buttermilk, but I will have to get some sleep for work that night. I was just dead on last Sunday Night/Monday Morning.  It killed me! Trying to get used to going to work at 12-midnight is very different from the 12.5 hour shifts that I used to work. You would think that an 8 hour shift would be a cakewalk but it gets difficult around the 5am to 7am range. I leave work at 7am and I have a 27 mile commute back to my house.  I have a shorter drive than before, but I work longer.  Fall is a strange time because there are no major holidays and you have several months until there is one.  You have Halloween, but that is not a “true” holiday unless you are a pagan.  Thanksgiving is the only real holiday in the Fall, then it is winter and Christmas is next unless you are like me and have your wife’s birthday in December, then your wedding anniversary the next week and then Christmas four days later.  December is a very busy month for me.  We will not be able to go home this Christmas because of work schedules. I do however have a trip to Texas in November for my brother’s wedding and I am looking forward to that. It will be in Austin Texas and I will be with my paternal family for that event. It will be nice to see them all. Well I guess that this is enough of me rambling on f rot he moment…

 

RMStringer

+++++++++++++++++++++++

"We are all geniuses when we dream"

- E.M. Cioran

 

Tiger Army...

TOMORROW…DC at the Black Cat Club…

 

RMStringer

#################

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,

anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Author Unknown

 

Reflective sunrise.

Taken inside looking out a window with a reflection of the ceeling on the glass.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Real Spiderman!!!

This is just AMAZING!! I have never seen anything like this ever. No ropes or safety equipment at all...



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DC in 2 days!!!!

Well folks, on Friday mark and I are off to go see Tiger Army!  I am very excited to see them and it should be a fun night up there.  We hope to be able to go ridding Friday before we drive up there. I need to go and workout tonight as I missed doing any activity yesterday but sleep and work.  It is strange that 8 hour shifts are kicking my butt at the moment. I guess that it was from the week that I was back on day shift. I have been on nights a total of 6.5-7 months and  looks like I will be on them for an extended period again. I am home more because my shift starts at 12am, midnight.  I guess that is why I am messed up at the moment. Well, more laters…

 

RMStringer

********************

"To open the eternal worlds, to

open the immortal eyes Of man

Inwards, into the worlds of thought, into Eternity". ITN

 

 

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

108 commands that you can execute from the 'Run' command prompt in XP

Mentioned below is a list of 108 commands that you can execute from the ‘Run’ command prompt in XP. All you have to do is click on Start » Click Run and type the below commands to run the respective application/tool.

COMMAND - Will run the following app/tool

access.cpl                                 - Accessibility Controls

hdwwiz.cpl                             - Add Hardware Wizard

appwiz.cpl                                - Add/Remove Programs

certmgr.msc                           - Administrative Tools

charmap                                    - Character Map

chkdsk                                        - Check Disk Utility

clipbrd                                        - Clipboard Viewer

cmd                                             - Command Prompt

dcomcnfg                                 - Component Services

compmgmt.msc                    - Computer Management

timedate.cpl                            - Date and Time Properties

ddeshare                                   - DDE Shares

devmgmt.msc                         - Device Manager

directx.cpl                                 - Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)

dxdiag                                         - Direct X Troubleshooter

cleanmgr                                   - Disk Cleanup Utility

dfrg.msc                                   - Disk Defragment

diskmgmt.msc                         - Disk Management

diskpart                                      - Disk Partition Manager

control desktop                      - Display Properties

desk.cpl                                     - Display Properties

control color                             - Display Properties (w/Appearance TabPreselected)

drwtsn32                                  - Dr. Watson System TroubleshootingUtility

verifier                                      - Driver Verifier Utility

eventvwr.msc                        - Event Viewer

sigverif                                       - File Signature Verification Tool

findfast.cpl                               - Findfast

control folders                        - Folders Properties

control fonts                            - Fonts

fonts                                           - Fonts Folder

freecell                                       - Free Cell Card Game

joy.cpl                                         - Game Controllers

gpedit.msc                                 - Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)

mshearts                                    - Hearts Card Game

iexpress                                      - Iexpress Wizard

ciadv.msc                                   - Indexing Service

inetcpl.cpl                                  - Internet Properties

ipconfig /all                                - IP Configuration (Display ConnectionConfiguration)

ipconfig /displaydns               - IP Configuration (Display DNS CacheContents)

ipconfig /flushdns                   - IP Configuration (Delete DNS CacheContents)

ipconfig /release                    - IP Configuration (Release AllConnections)

ipconfig /renew                       - IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)

ipconfig /registerdns             - IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP &Re-Registers DNS)

ipconfig /showclassid            - IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)

ipconfig /setclassid                 - IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP ClassID)

javaws                                         - Java Control Panel (If Installed)

control keyboard                    - Keyboard Properties

secpol.msc                                 - Local Security Settings

lusrmgr.msc                              - Local Users and Groups

logoff                                           - Logs You Out Of Windows

winchat                                       - Microsoft Chat

winmine                                     - Minesweeper Game

control mouse                          - Mouse Properties

main.cpl                                      - Mouse Properties

netstat                                        - Netstat

control netconnections        - Network Connections

ncpa.cpl                                      - Network Connections

netsetup.cpl                             - Network Setup Wizard

notepad                                      - Notepad

nvtuicpl.cpl                                - Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed)

packager                                     - Object Packager

odbccp32.cpl                             - ODBC Data Source Administrator

osk                                                - On Screen Keyboard

password.cpl                            - Password Properties

perfmon.msc                            - Performance Monitor

perfmon                                     - Performance Monitor

telephon.cpl                             - Phone and Modem Options

powercfg.cpl                             - Power Configuration

control printers                        - Printers and Faxes

printers                                       - Printers Folder

eudcedit                                     - Private Character Editor

QuickTime.cpl                           - Quicktime (If Installed)

intl.cpl                                          - Regional Settings

regedit                                        - Registry Editor

mstsc                                           - Remote Desktop

ntmsmgr.msc                           - Removable Storage

ntmsoprq.msc                          - Removable Storage Operator Requests

rsop.msc                                     - Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof)

sticpl.cpl                                      - Scanners and Cameras

control schedtasks                 - Scheduled Tasks

wscui.cpl                                     - Security Center

services.msc                             - Services

fsmgmt.msc                              - Shared Folders

shutdown                                  - Shuts Down Windows

mmsys.cpl                                  - Sounds and Audio

spider                                         - Spider Solitare Card Game

cliconfg                                        - SQL Client Configuration

sysedit                                         - System Configuration Editor

msconfig                                     - System Configuration Utility

sfc /scannow                            - System File Checker Utility (ScanImmediately)

sfc /scanonce                           - System File Checker Utility (Scan Once AtNext Boot)

sfc /scanboot                            - System File Checker Utility (Scan On EveryBoot)

sfc /revert                                  - System File Checker Utility (Return toDefault Setting)

sfc /purgecache                       - System File Checker Utility (Purge FileCache)

sfc /cachesize=x                      - System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Sizeto size x)

sysdm.cpl                                   - System Properties

taskmgr                                       - Task Manager

telnet                                           - Telnet Client

tracert                                         - Traceroute to hostname or IP

nusrmgr.cpl                               - User Account Management

utilman                                        - Utility Manager

firewall.cpl                                 - Windows Firewall

magnify                                       - Windows Magnifier

wmimgmt.msc                         - Windows Management Infrastructure

syskey                                         - Windows System Security Tool

wupdmgr                                   - Windows Update Launches

tourstart                                     - Windows XP Tour Wizard

write                                            - Wordpad

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced

equation inherent to the programming of the matrix.

You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite

my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate

from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.

While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not

unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control.

Which has led you, inexorably, here." - The Architect, The Matrix Reloaded

 

Beautiful evening sky

The Weather...

Well folks, it is looking like we might actually get some rain today and cool down. We have had record breaking temperatures this week and it is finally supposed to cool down by the weekend!  Thank God, it was in the 90s today and yesterday as well.  I cut the grass on Sunday and we also had a record breaking temperature day as well.  I am ready for rain rain rain and cool temps…

We might go to the Skyline Drive next weekend to see the fall colors, it is also known as the Blue Ridge Parkway.

 

RMStringer

++++++++++++++++++

My BLOG:  BOB's Thoughts...

Link - http://renigade.blogspot.com/

Other BLOG: Random Falling Trees

Link - http://randomfallingtrees.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Sun setting...

I took this on monday evening.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Star Wars Construction...

I have been in the construction trades for a long time. I am an electrician and a controls technician. No to my point. I have been on many job sites. Materials have to be constructed and put together or prefabricated somewhere else and then brought to the job site. Materials are heavy and sometimes must be brought in from long distances. Steel beams are very heavy and cumbersome to move and require big cranes. Now, how in the Star Wars Galaxy does all this get acccompolished?

They say it took 20 years to build the 1st Death Star. I know that they had cloning technology for their work force, but where did they get all the metal and natural resources for the station? I know that weight is not an issue in space, but you still have to get the material their and that would expend resources and time to do that and with it being built so far in deep space, the materials would have to travel a long distance to get there. I know that is not problem with Hyper Space, but you still have to expend fuel to get there. Did they have processing facilities on a planet close by the construction site or did the materials came from Courscant? Can the manipulate matter and create something out of nothing?

It took less than 3 years to get the next Death Star under construction and to be built bigger than the first one. They got smart and built it with protection from the Moon of Endor. perhaps they got raw materials from the moon. Who can answere this for me?


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Sunday, October 07, 2007

Chesterfild Virginia...

Chesterfield VA is a very good county to live in. It has some of the best schools in the state and it has about 500k+ people living in it. There are 12 high schools and nearly 14 middle schools and as many elementary schools . Therefore, overall, it is a very good county to live in.

The bad part is the rapid expansion of the housing market here. With the national market in a slump, it is reflected here as well. In our subdivision, there have been houses on the market for over 9 months and they are still building more houses. In the whole Richmond Metroplex, there are over 10k houses on the market. Why are they still building? There are plans to build two new subdivisions in our area, Roseland and the other is called Branner Station and they will have a total of 10,000 new homes in them. Now my point is this; Chesterfield in the areas that subdivisions are being built does not have the infrastructure to handle them.

The water system depends on wells and Swift Creek Reservoir. With the little amount of rain, that we have had this year and the drought situation that we are in, it can hot handle more houses without expansion of those services. We are reportedly going on mandatory water restrictions as of next weekend due to the drought. This is happening all over Virginia and is not just a local event. The electrical system in our area is ok, we do have some power outages due to storms, but I think that Dominion Power has been trying to upgrade that infrastructure as of late.

The roads in this part of the county are for the most part two lane roads with no shoulders. The will improve the roads in front of the entrances of the subdivisions, but the rest of the roads are unimproved. Genito road coming from Hull Street (360) is a nice 4-lane road, when it crosses Old Hundred/Charter Colony Parkway; it becomes a bad two-lane road that goes through Brandermill and across Swift Creek Reservoir. There are several bad bridges that barely have enough room for two cars to pass at the same time. I hate to drive over them when another car is passing me. This road is on the 5-year plan to be expanded, I can t wait to see that happen.

Most of these properties that are being built had the land purchased in the early 1990s and the taxes were very low. The land developers have to pay taxes to have the city services to be connected to the sites. The land has set for over 15 years and the taxes are estimated to be around $18k, but they are locked in at the $2500k mark. So the developers will give the county land to make up for the difference in the tax base. The developers are ripping off the county and that is the main reason that the services are not up to where they need to be and it falls on the county to find the money to get them up to standered.

Another point I have to make is where are all the jobs coming from to support all of the new building? The main employers are Dominion and Philip Morris. With Wachovia taking leave of the city in 2009 and going to St. Louis and Capitol One having all the lay-offs, the tax base is not here to support all of the home development that is occurring here or to make all of the necessary infrastructure improvements that will be needed as well. With 10k new homes, that is an average of 30k new people going to live here. Where are they coming from? I know that the Fort Lee Military Base going to expand, but most Armed Services folks cannot afford a 300k+ home to live in and most of the new houses are in that price range.

I am not sure what the future holds for the Richmond Metroplex, but it should be interesting…




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Very Interesting maps...

Thanks to Chris Harrison for all of his work.

World Connection Density








World City-to-City Connections









European City-to-City Connections











North American City-to-City Connections












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Work Stuff

Well tonight I start the new job. I trained all day Friday.  I am working at a Bank Of America Tier 1 server farm.  This place is the main server farm for the Eastern USA and has 5 floors of servers.  It is amazing. I am working night shift again, but only an 8 hour shift, so it will not be that bad. I will post some more tomorrow…

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced

equation inherent to the programming of the matrix.

You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite

my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate

from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.

While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not

unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control.

Which has led you, inexorably, here." - The Architect, The Matrix Reloaded

 

Saturday, October 06, 2007

In the News...

According to an article on Yahoo.
Top 10 worst places to meet someone new after a split:
10. Laundromat (if a person doesn't have his/her own washer and dryer by now or live in place that has a laundry room, that could be very telling)
9. A bar where divorced singles congregate
8. Your attorney's office lobby (the other divorcee you are suddenly attracted to needs time to "unpack" his/her baggage)
7. The water cooler at work
6. Parking garage
5. Anger management class
4. Alcoholics Anonymous
3. Fast food restaurant
2. In the car next to you
1. Jail

Top 10 best places to meet someone new after a split:
10. Your best friend's wedding (it doesn't matter how many he/she has had)
9. Headquarters of your favorite political candidate
8. Your local home improvement or hardware store (women can never find what they need, so the men cruising the aisles are easy recruits for assistance)
7. Your personal trainer's studio
6. Someone else's office, not yours
5. On a ski lift
4. Through a reputable dating service that is known for finding perfect matches
3. Self-help seminar for those who have recently broken up
2. Your place of worship
1. Sting concert (people of all ages attend them)





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Tiger Army...

It is 6 days till the Tiger Army show in DC.  Mark and I are going to see the show.  I can’t wait to go and hear them. They sound very interesting…

IS anyone else going to see it?  Let me know.

 

October 12, 2007 (Friday) -- Washington D.C. @ The Black Cat
w/ Street Dogs + The Static Age
Venue: blackcatdc.com

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

 

Friday, October 05, 2007

New Music...

I saw these two bands on PBS last night. They are called Existor and The Gaskets. Existor is a 3 man band with a bass, drums, and a massive set of keyboards. They are a very good Jam Band and i was really impressed. Their music flowed and one song bled into another one with no interruptions. I was able to see their whole set. The other band i was was the Gaskets. IT was just two guys on stage, one sang and played harmonica and the other did backing vocals and played the keys. Their sound was like an 80s band. They had a good mic and really had the crowd into their set. i was only able to see 3 of their songs. For anyone interested in looking into their music, here is a link to the Music Seen page at the PBS station.

"http://www.myspace.com/musicseenfestival"

Go and listen to them on My Space...


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Thursday, October 04, 2007

Do you do any of these?

Or better yet, have any of these happened to you? I know that they sure have been done to me.

The complete list of "Terrible Ten" behaviors:
1. Discrimination in an employment situation.
2. Erratic/aggressive driving that endangers others.
3. Taking credit for someone else's work.
4. Treating service providers as inferiors.
5. Jokes or remarks that mock another's race/gender/age/disability/sexual preference or religion.
6. Children who behave aggressively or who bully others.
7. Littering (including trash, spitting, pet waste).
8. Misuse of handicapped privileges.
9. Smoking in non-smoking places or smoking in front of non-smokers without asking.
10. Using cell phones or text messaging in mid- conversation or during an appointment or meeting.

Categories of "rude" or "uncivil" behavior were derived from an informal survey, conducted online through Yahoo.com and Survey Monkey during a two-week period in May 2007. The survey polled employees of the Baltimore-based companies Lifebridge Health and E A Engineering Science and Technology, as well as employees and students at the University of Baltimore. Thirty examples of rude behavior were posed to respondents, each linked to a five point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not offensive) to 5 (most offensive). Respondents were asked to indicate the degree to which they personally considered each behavior offensive

Thanks to:
Office of News and Information
Johns Hopkins University
901 South Bond Street, Suite 540
Baltimore, Maryland 21231

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Sunset Pics This Evening...






I took these off the front porch of my house. I used my Sony Cybershot DSC-H1. It is a 5.1 megapixel with a 12x Optical and a 5x digital zoom.


In one of the pictures i caught a contrail of a jet going across the sky.


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Some Sunet Pics Today...

I took these off the front porch of my house using my Sony Cybershot DSC-H1. It is a 5.1 megapixel camera with a 12x optical zoom and a 5x digital zoom.







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Orb spider.

He is stiller here.

Wickid clouds!

Perhaps a chance of rain?

Work day 3 @ office.

I am tired today. i worked till 8pm last night to get things ready for today. I need to go to the gym tonight as ive missed the last few days. Well more later...

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

The Blog...

It just seems like that no matter what I do, I cannot generate traffic to my site.  I am not really sure of what people like on my site as I never get any comments from the readers. It would be nice for some suggestions to be emailed to me so I can do some research and post on those topics.  So if anyone is out there, please email some suggestions to me. The email is on left side of the Blog in the badge section.

 

Thankx…

 

RMStringer

#################

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start,

anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Author Unknown

 

Work today...

Well i am at the office setting out files to be placed folders. I have the whole conferance room to use and i need it. Many files to sort out!

Monday, October 01, 2007

Almost down!

It was taken at 7.08pm at my house.

Due west

On Genito rd over 288.

Sunset...

From my house.

Ubuntu Desktop

I just did a system upgrade to my Ubuntu computer. I had an old Dell Optiplex GX-150 that had an 866mhz Coppermine processor in it.  I took that proc out and placed it in the Linux box.  I also changed out the Cd-Rom drive for a DVD-Rom drive and placed more RAM into the box as well.  It had a 1gig Celeron and it was slow. The 866 is much faster and more responsive than the Celeron.  I will give more updates as I play with the box more.

 

RMStringer

+++++++++++++++++++++++

"We are all geniuses when we dream"

- E.M. Cioran

 

North on 76 toll

@ 6.47am

An Intimate Celestial Bond

If you want to Purchase any of my music(s), Please go to https://djrenigade.bandcamp.com/ 1st Track For The New Year! #DownTempo #RenigadeCi...